Welding on Bucket

[Blondie70]

Howdy
I want to weld a hook onto my bucket. If I hook ground very near to weld area...is there any reason to unhook anything electrical on the machine? Stick welder. Thanks
Pete

 

[russell.still.5]

I don’t think so, but it wouldn’t hurt.


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[Tarmy]

I have welded on mine many times...no issues. Some say to disconnect the battery...

Grind a good ground spot close to your work...at least that works for me.

 

[ggg3988]

I would disconnect the bucket from the tractor then weld it. It it’s connected to tractor always disconnect the battery. My way would be weld hook to backing plate , paint it, drill holes and mount it. Good luck.
Gary

 

[redfernclan]

Welded lots of stuff on mine with out disconnecting battery, just be aware of the path it will take.
Like don't weld on the bucket with the ground clamp on the boom.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

AC stick welder, remove battery ground cable just to be safe.

 

[dlsmith]

Just ground it to bare metal near where you are welding. This is only to get a good circuit between the weld and the ground clamp.
Electricity always takes the path of least resistance. From the ground clamp to the area being welded on steel is very low resistance. Nothing outside that path is going to be affected in any significant way. Current isn't going to travel up the loader arms into the chassis into the wiring harness through a ground and into an electronic component and damage it. It ain't gonna happen.
In my 50 years of experience in welding on cars, trucks and heavy equipment, I have never disconnected a battery, alternator or other electronic equipment, and nave never had any problem whatsoever. The only caveat is if you are welding close to a battery, then remove it because of the possibility of igniting hydrogen gas given off by lead/acid batteries, or if welding close, within a foot or so of an unshielded electronic device, you might want to remove it because of the EMP or RFI given off by the arc.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Only time stray (eddy) currents come into play is with TIG or pulsed MIG or sometimes ac SMAW (stick). welding. Like Wolfman said, remove the POSITIVE battery cable, not the negative or remove both and place the ground clamp as close as possible to the weld area on clean paint free metal.

The only time electronic issues (fried circuits) come into play is when the ground is a distance from the work piece.

 

[Bulldog]

I couldn't make myself burn the new orange paint. I made plates with the hooks welded to them and bolted them to my bucket instead.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I couldn't make myself burn the new orange paint. I made plates with the hooks welded to them and bolted them to my bucket instead.

I've never put hooks on any bucket. Don't need them, I use the draw bar and a clevis if I need to pull something or the pallet forks (which came with hooks to lift something.

Paint was, all 3 of my buckets are pretty beat up paint wise. In fact, this year I may sandblast them all and re paint them. Need to do my 10 foot snowplow anyway.

 

[GeoHorn]

IN theory, if you have your ground-clamp nearer to the weldment then no problems should occur.
The primary concerns would be if current is allowed to pass thru a battery or ALTERNATOR which can burn the rectifier/diodes in the alternator. This would only occur if you clamped your ground cable to the engine block and welded on some distant portion (such as the bucket, which might also send current thru the bucket/FEL pins and create rough spots on the pins/bushings.)

However, if you clamp the ground directly to the bucket and weld the hooks directly on the bucket... you should be fine with no issues. BTDT.

 

[outpost22]

I've MIG welded hooks to the top of my bucket and Grapple with the implements off the machine. The only thing I would add is I've also welded large (3"-4") folding "D" rings to the sides of the bucket. There is no side clearance issue when using these since they fold flat to the side of the implement when not in use.

 

[Blondie70]

Thanks to everyone for their great advice on the subject !!!
Pete

 

[Bulldog]

I've never put hooks on any bucket. Don't need them, I use the draw bar and a clevis if I need to pull something or the pallet forks (which came with hooks to lift something.

Paint was, all 3 of my buckets are pretty beat up paint wise. In fact, this year I may sandblast them all and re paint them. Need to do my 10 foot snowplow anyway.

My bucket is well used now but it was only a few days old when I put the hooks on it. I use mine all the time and couldn't see not having them.